“Congratulations on your discharge, Yerna Unni!”
Sorbi approached Yerna with a cheerful greeting.
Then, she immediately asked in a teasing voice, “So when will you be able to return to work?”
“You’re the most curious about that, aren’t you?”
“Ouch.”
Kirke flicked Sorbi’s forehead at her transparently inquisitive question.
It seemed like it was not a joke to say to someone who had just been discharged to see how they were doing.
Seeing this, Yerna burst out laughing.
“Haha, it’s fine, Kirke. Sorbi, I’m sorry for taking such a long break, right?”
Having taken a long vacation followed by sick leave, it was true that if anyone else had taken such time off, even if it was unavoidable, they would have heard complaints from the Forest Keepers.
She knew that Sorbi didn’t really mean any harm, but Yerna’s heart was not completely at ease with the realization that she was indeed the one who should feel sorry.
Looking down at her right hand wrapped in bandages and a cast, she spoke.
“As long as I’m careful with vigorous movements, I think I’ll be fine. I should be able to perform patrol duties without any problems.”
“Then that’s a relief.”
“Let’s recover quickly and do shifts together, Unni.”
“Haha. Yes, we should.”
Yerna smiled cheerfully.
To be honest, she had wanted nothing more than to quickly return to the forest to clear out monsters and manage things every moment she spent in the hospital.
It was certainly comfortable to rest, but maybe because she had worked in the forest for too long, she felt that her life was somehow lacking without being a Forest Keeper.
If she didn’t feel the forest’s mana, there was an unsettling feeling, and while her body was comfortable, her heart was not at all at ease.
This was not particularly because she was an Elf.
After all, there are many Elves in the world who do not purposely visit the forest.
It was simply her calling.
The work she had done for a long time had become a part of her.
She had effectively reached a point where her profession had become her identity.
Without being a Forest Keeper, she was at a loss as to what kind of life to lead.
Perhaps she would live her entire life as a Forest Keeper.
Yerna took a deep breath and looked around.
The beautiful sights of her workplace, Luke Forest, with its blue sky and lush greenery.
Also, she would be able to go for her daily morning walks with Luke along the forest path once again.
“Oh, right. Where’s Luke right now?”
In response to Yerna’s question, Daphne answered immediately.
“He’s probably at your lodging, Unni. He should be waking up about now.”
Daphne lightly smiled and looked in the direction of the lodging where Luke was.
Just then, their eyes met as Luke was opening a window, and when she lightly waved, he responded with a big wave.
Seeing that, Yerna also lifted her left hand and waved back with a smile.
Yerna continued to wave until Luke disappeared back inside, then lowered her hand and said, “Luke is still the same.”
The news of Luke’s injury, who was like a mascot of Luke Forest, naturally spread to all the Forest Keepers alongside the news of Yerna’s injury.
Therefore, at least within Luke Forest, no one was unaware that Luke had broken his horn, cut his hair, injured his eye, and consequently, his strength had weakened.
How worried she had been that this incident might make Luke a negative child.
Yet, Luke was living his life without any change.
Even though his body had weakened, Luke still went out for his daily walks every morning, leaning on his cane, tending to flowers, playing, and studying.
As if nothing had changed at all.
“……Yeah.”
Yerna closed her eyes for a moment and recalled what Luke had said while hospitalized with her.
‘This level of injury is a small price to pay for saving you from death.’
It was truly a line straight out of a classic fairy tale, to the point where it made the listener’s face blush with embarrassment.
But Luke, he was certainly not a child unworthy of bearing the name of a hero.
Even now, when she closed her eyes, she could visualize Luke confronting that massive beast with his giant eyes and teeth.
It was impressive. Honestly.
Whether what she had seen at that time was an illusion or a dream induced by fainting, it was clear that Luke had blocked her path and saved her from that black flame.
In reality, she thought that feeling a bit flustered was unworthy of her age, thus she couldn’t honestly say it was impressive.
Yet worrying about Luke’s injury was a separate matter.
She didn’t feel overly concerned about the horn and hair.
Hair would obviously grow back if left alone, and Luke had always complained that his horn was quite uncomfortable, so this time, it was trimmed a bit to avoid any issues in daily life.
It was quite common for Hyun children to break their horns while playing or bumping into something.
In the end, Hyun horns are replaced once during their growth phase, much like children’s baby teeth, so it wasn’t a big problem.
If anything, shaping the horn into a prettier form or blunting it to make it safer is often a cosmetic procedure among Hyun possessing horns.
However, the eye injury and weakened body were concerns that couldn’t be dismissed.
Nonetheless, the examination results showed that thankfully, it was an injury that could fully heal, which was a great relief.
‘Moreover, it’s said that he has nearly lost all his mana.’
Should she call it a twist of fate? It was indeed a moment when sudden misfortune turned into fortune.
Normally, if all mana were to drain so suddenly from a Circle, it would usually be life-threatening.
It was inherently dangerous to use magic by spinning the Circle, and it was obvious that forcibly extracting mana was even more dangerous.
Thus, doctors could only handle the mana accumulated in the Circle with utmost caution.
Let alone the core-level mana of the World Tree…
At least among the magic meant for healing people, there was no way to handle such a large amount of mana without side effects.
Though she didn’t doubt Luke’s boastful claim that he could handle any amount of mana, it was the third time he had been hospitalized due to mana surges, so it was a bit difficult to fully trust that his words were not simply hubris or overconfidence.
The mana in the Circle has homeostasis, so in the end, it wouldn’t be able to avoid filling the heart with mana…
However, for now, it was said that his mana senses had diminished greatly and that mana wouldn’t accumulate quickly as she worried.
When his diminished mana sensitivity would recover was a mystery, but Yerna actually found that to be fortunate.
It might be a bit of a bad thought, but she even briefly thought that as long as Luke could continue to live, it would be fine if he remained uncomfortable in his body.
No matter how painful it might be, as long as he was alive, there would be countless opportunities for happiness.
Even if Luke didn’t recover and became unhappy, she could just work hard to make him happy.
Initially, it might have just been the guilt weighing on her heart, but at least that wasn’t the case now.
She wanted to see Luke enjoying various things a bit longer.
That was all.
As she made that resolution and started toward her lodging, a familiar male voice called out.
“Hey, Yerna. When did you come? Is your body feeling better? You should rest a bit more.”
“I’m fine! In fact, it feels good! I can’t express how much I missed the scent of the forest since being in the hospital.”
“That’s a relief then….”
“Thank you for worrying about me, and thank you for always visiting Luke in the hospital.”
Yerna walked over to Dayton, playfully tapping his arm and smiling.
“You’ve been a great help.”
Seeing that smile directed towards him made Dayton’s face turn red, and he awkwardly scratched the back of his head while avoiding her gaze.
“Re-really? Well then, um… I’m going for a walk with Luke later, want to join?”
“Sure, sounds good.”
Yerna nodded, smiling brightly.
She had been eagerly anticipating going for walks with Luke during that whole time.
————–
Luke squinted at the sunlight streaming in between the curtains and finally opened his eyes.
Seeing the dawn break, it seemed that this time the morning mana had failed him again.
Had he overslept once more?
“Hmmm…”
Lately, he had often overslept.
He wasn’t entirely sure whether it was due to his body weakening or having a bad dream, but ultimately he was always sleeping late.
Even though it seemed like he was getting enough naps, he didn’t understand why he felt this way.
Well, it was too late to think about that; Luke simply sighed and rose from bed.
If he continued to oversleep, he wouldn’t be able to go for his morning walk at all.
The first thing Luke checked when he opened his eyes was Pyris’s posture.
It was a mystery how she could curl up into such a ball every time she slept.
Was it because she still had a fragile child’s body?
While pondering this, he adjusted Pyris’s position, stretched to meet the morning sunlight, and opened the curtains.
As always, the weather was quite nice.
Looking out the window, he saw Daphne, Kirke, and Sorbi chatting with someone.
Focusing a little more, he recognized it was Yerna’s face.
He had heard she was discharged; had she already come to the forest?
Waving his hand with a smile to show his excitement, Yerna waved back, also smiling widely.
‘Today, Yerna might join us for a walk as well.’
Thinking this, Luke began to prepare himself.
Every morning, before it gets too hot, Luke usually went for a walk.
The primary aim was to gather mana in his heart.
Currently, his mana sensing ability had significantly decreased, so just meditating in one place was far from enough to replenish the depleted mana in his Circle, and he couldn’t even absorb the mana that Py gave him, making walking an absolute necessity.
He washed his face, brushed his teeth, combed his hair, and changed his clothes. These were all things he had done every single day without fail, so there was nothing particularly new.
The only thing that was a bit different was his skirt.
Luke moved his tail to ensure it was properly coming out of the tail hole to check on the skirt made for Hyun, and indeed, there were no issues with the tail’s mobility.
He had always worn skirts with tail holes as his uniform, but it was a rule he followed and hadn’t started wearing one of his own free will until recently.
He’d always preferred to hide it, thinking the thick-rooted tail that had hair might look strange in casual clothes, but he had no choice but to let that go nowadays.
“Man, it’s hot.”
The weather was too hot for that.
Hyun tails also play a role in dissipating heat.
So, with his tail wrapped up in the skirt, it would be impossible for heat to be released properly, which meant he had to endure an even hotter day.
Under normal circumstances, he would have been indifferent to the heat.
The dragon’s bloodline would grant him quite a strong resistance to heat.
However, that dragon’s power had diminished significantly due to the cutting off of his horn.
He couldn’t use magic either.
The Circle was not in a suitable state for casting spells, and he barely had enough time to gather mana in his heart.
Thanks to that, Luke was experiencing summer in a way that an ordinary Hyun would.
This summer felt particularly hot for him.
Luke had never experienced such heat throughout his life.
From a very young age, he had lived with magic, and since carving the 3rd Circle into his heart at age eight, he had never experienced the sensation of heat and cold.
It was undoubtedly the first time Luke found himself in a situation where he had to suppress his magic.
That’s why the sudden arrival of summer was quite difficult for him to endure.
If his mana sensing wasn’t diminished, he would have thought about absorbing all the seasonal mana and bringing an early autumn.
As he watched his tail twitch for a while, Luke picked up his cane.
“…Hmm.”
At that moment, Pyris rubbed her eyes and sat up as if awakened by the sound.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Unni, going for a walk? I want to go too, yawww….”
Since learning the meaning of the word ‘Unni,’ Pyris had been calling Luke by that name consistently.
It seemed that the term made her feel somehow connected to Luke as if they were family.
That wasn’t a bad thing, so Luke simply smiled and replied.
“Then, let’s wash up first.”
It was clear that she didn’t look ready to go out just yet.
She had sleep in her eyes, her hair was tangled like a bird’s nest, and there were drool marks around her mouth.
Well, given that Pyris’s appearance resembled his own right now, he couldn’t leave her looking like a mess.
———–
“Oh, isn’t that a bitter root flower? Let’s hurry over there!”
Luke, perched on Dayton’s shoulder, perked up his ears out of curiosity and pointed to the right with his cane.
Thanks to Yerna joining them, they had ventured deeper than usual, even though Luke’s energy was considerably low.
In fact, even on normal days, whenever he got tired while walking, Dayton would often carry him or let him ride on his back, so now he had become quite accustomed to it.
“There’s more mana over there, but didn’t you say you needed mana more urgently?”
Dayton pointed in the opposite direction with a reality check since he possessed the ability to sense mana while Luke could not use magic.
“Mana is everywhere, but that flower is more important! It’s a valuable mana herb that only blooms in the summer! Hurry!”
“Okay, okay, I get it! But stop poking me with your tail. It tickles!”
He had become so accustomed to sitting on Dayton’s shoulders that now he even used his tail to poke Dayton in the face.
Though the fur on his tail was soft like cotton, if it got into Dayton’s nose, it was terribly ticklish.
Reluctantly, as if to align with Luke’s intent, he turned his body, and finally, Luke’s tail settled down.
Watching this scene from the back, Yerna chuckled at the sight.
‘Seeing this, they really look like a family.’
Their appearance was undeniably reminiscent of a father and daughter having fun together, which made her laugh.
“Dayton is going to be a great dad one day.”
When she muttered that, Pyris, who was holding Yerna’s hand, shouted loudly.
“Dayton Dad?”
-Wobble.
Pyris’s shout made Dayton’s body shake.
“Eek!”
Almost dropping Luke from his shoulders, Dayton reflexively released his grip on Luke’s head and shot a sharp glare at him.
“What the heck was that! You scared me!”
“Sorry! I stumbled….”
“How on earth do you nearly fall on flat ground without a single stone? If it’s too much, just put me down! I can walk on my own!”
Luke yelled as he scolded Dayton.
Dayton careful released Luke to the ground, and Yerna immediately rushed over, firing off questions like, “Are you alright? Were you scared? Dayton, what happened?”
Dayton could only apologize.
Luke seemed rather irritated by the reality that he had let out an embarrassing scream due to being startled and shot an annoyed glare at Dayton before starting to walk ahead.
It seemed he had been quite alarmed.
Naturally, he had good reason to be startled…
“……”
But wouldn’t every man be thrown into confusion by suddenly being called ‘Dad’…?
